With the help of photographer Gregory Harris and the magazine’s fashion editor Virginie Benarroch, the 22-year-old model paid homage to the late princess, who died on August 31, 1997. The magazine mainly styled and photographed Bieber ‘on the go’ in slouchy sweatshirts, chunky sneakers and bike shorts, though it did re-create another outfit, which included an oversized blazer and cowboy boots, that Diana wore to a polo match. The shots were set up to emulate a number of candid photos taken of Diana throughout the ’90s.
Bieber shared the photos in a series of Instagram posts on Wednesday. Her first post announced her admiration for the late Princess of Wales saying, “all credit and inspo to the amazingly beautiful and iconically stylish Princess Diana who I’ve looked to for style inspiration for as long as I can remember. Thank you for leaving behind such an iconic fashion and style legacy.”
A post shared by Hailey Rhode Bieber (@haileybieber) on Aug 28, 2019 at 4:18pm PDT
Fans, friends and style experts immediately reacted to the photos. Many approved of the shoot, and some, like The Cut fashion writer Sarah Spellings, made note of how similar Princess Diana and Hailey Bieber’s off-duty style appears. Bieber is known for incorporating athletic wear into everyday outfits, particularly her love of wearing oversized sweatshirts and outerwear to balance more fitted pieces.
Fellow celebrities were among the first to comment on Instagram.
A post shared by Hailey Rhode Bieber (@haileybieber) on Aug 28, 2019 at 4:17pm PDT
“Can’t handle this. Too. Good,” model Bella Hadid wrote on one of the posts, while sister Gigi commented, “I love this story so much!”
At least one, Rachel Seville Tashjian, who is a style writer for GQ, expressed overall approval with some minor critiques.
“I woke up to tens of thousands of requests for my opinion on Hailey B doing Diana cosplay for Paris Vogue….. I think it’s terrific,” tweeted Tashjian. “My only critiques: the logos should have been weird references to Hailey’s rich inner life [and] Diana wore chunkier sneakers (by Mizuno).”
Princess Diana was killed in a car accident in Paris 22 years ago this month. After she divorced Prince Charles in 1996, the press linked Diana romantically to film producer Dodi al-Fayed, whose billionaire father owned Harrods department store in London. Fayed and a driver also died in the accident.
Princess Diana became known as “the people’s princess” for her down-to-earth demeanor and extensive charity work. An estimated 2.5 billion people watched her televised funeral.
